Teacher Forced Black Kids To Play Slaves, White Kids To Play Noblemen In Skit

A mother speaks out about how a teacher at a middle school in Virginia that her son attends had asked African-American students to role play as slaves while white children acted as noblemen as a history lesson.

At Shelburne Middle School located in Staunton, Tamika Derozen relays that black students were to pick cotton and dig coal in a skit about the Louisiana Purchase after hearing about it from her son.

Derozen says that her son wanted to walk away but he was scared of getting in trouble. He just didn’t know what to do.

Derozen stated that the principal had come forward to apologize having heard of her complaint. However, the teacher in question said that it “wouldn’t make sense for white actors to play the slaves”, after showing her students a clip from “Roots”, a mini series about slavery.

The school district will be investigating and be handling the matter in a “swift” manner.